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Bhante?
Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 6:45 am
by JackV
Hello.
Are sāmaṇera still refered to as Bhante or is that reserved till they have become full fledged monks?
Thanks
Re: Bhante?
Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 7:48 am
by cooran
Hello Jack,
It is only used for ordained monks:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhante
With metta,
Chris
Re: Bhante?
Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2013 12:01 pm
by JackV
So How does one, refer to Sameneras? Just using their former name?
Re: Bhante?
Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2013 7:27 pm
by mikenz66
Hi Jack,
Do you have a particular context in mind? Unless you know the person it's not easy to tell whether they are a bhikkhu or a samanera (unless they are obviously under 20 years old), so it's somewhat of a moot point in most cases. If you do know them, you can ask how to address them...
I don't know of a Pali form of address, but Thai people use the term naen for a novice. This word is used to identify one of the letters in the Thai alphabet:
http://www.thai-language.com/let/179 [Thai has an official list of words for identifying letters, along the lines of: "A is for apple".]
Mike